On December 10, School of Social Justice and Ecology teacher Ms.Trimlett and her sophomore class at Berkeley High School went on an tour around Berkeley, exploring various green buildings and discovering what made each of them unique. The students boarded a school bus and were led by East Bay Green Tours (EBGT) Founding Director Marissa LaMagna and EBGT Operations Manager Salem Kimble to eight diverse sites that truly made them understand the term “being green.”

Before the class embarked on their exciting journey, two presenters talked about green energy and found out what the students already knew about the subject. Rosemary Davies, a sophomore student of Ms. Trimlett’s,  knew quite a bit about “being green.”  She explained how it meant being environmentally stable as well as ecologically friendly. She also talked about how many countries are currently involved in making their societies greener.  For instance, 20 percent of Denmark’s energy is produced by wind turbines and they are imposing a higher tax on non-electric cars so people will use more eco-friendly vehicles. Davies had many things to bring to the table when it came to this discussion: “My favorite renewable energy source is the use of solar panels because there are numerous ways to use [them]. I’m excited to learn the components of what makes things green.”

At 9:15, once the assembly had concluded, everyone boarded the bus and headed to their first destination: Kruse Plumbing.  Kruse Plumbing was founded by Louis Joseph Kruse in 1916 and today his grandsons, David and Andy Kruse, are the President and Executive Vice President, respectively.  Louis’s great granddaughter, Janell Kruse, serves as the Vice President of the company.

The Kruse Plumbing building located on Pardee Street just off of Seventh Street, is by far one of the “greenest” buildings in all of Berkeley. Their flooring and stairs are made from coconut and palm husks. Numerous countertops are made from recycled glass. The adhesives and paints contain low levels of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC). Every single room is equipped with windows or skylights to let in natural light. As David Kruse guided the admiring class through the building, he commented  “We decided to do the very best we could with energy, water consumption, and materials.”  And that is exactly what they did. 210 solar panels glisten on the rooftops, providing almost all the energy for the building so they do not need any from PG&E.

What astounded everyone was Kruse’s water system. Every time it rained, 25 percent of the roof’s water would drain into a hole in one corner. That hole was connected to a clear tube that ran along the top of a ceiling, down the side and through a wall, skimmed along another ceiling, and emptied into a 1600 gallon water reserve tank. “On days when it was really raining, it was a spectacular thing to watch,” said Kruse. “A couple of us working here would sometimes just stand and watch as the water flowed through the pipes, huge bubbles here and there.” A special solar panel on the roof uses the sun’s energy to quickly heat up the water, so when someone turns on the hot water, it’s hot in under three seconds. That rainwater alone provides most of the company’s water, reducing of their normal water usage from East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) by 78 percent.  Kruse is very proud to announce this water collecting system is carbon neutral, meaning its carbon footprint is a nice big zero.

After the students thanked Dave and Andy, it was off to Urban Ore, located on Ashby Avenue and Seventh Street. Dr. Dan Knapp met the class upon arrival with a warm smile on his face. Dr. Knapp has been with Urban Ore since it started back in 1980. “Back then it wasn’t Urban Ore yet,” he explained. “It was just a couple of guys searching for scraps in the dump and selling them for profit.” He described to the class how the majority of the Bay Area’s land lining the coast is mostly landfill. He and a group of people would go searching for objects that were salvageable from time to time. Eventually they became more organized, sorting out things into different groups, and gained more people interested in their cause, which made their piles of treasure larger. Over time, they earned enough money to start a business. The first year as a business they made $250,000. In the 2008 they made over $2,500,000.

Today Urban Ore is a well-known place to get second-hand trinkets and useful household items and is becoming a recognized symbol of the green community. Urban Ore was one of the first organizations to sell used building materials, as opposed to just tossing them into the city dump. The company grew at the same time the term “reduce, reuse, recycle” gained popularity. Urban Ore perfectly embodies the time old phrase “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

Ms. Trimlett’s class returned to the bus after exploring the interesting artifacts of Urban Ore and set off for the Eco Home Improvement store, located on San Pablo Avenue a couple blocks away from the new Berkeley Bowl West. As the students entered, they were greeted by Taja di Leonardi, the company’s co-founder. She had planned a fun game, a sort of scavenger hunt for the visiting students. They were to roam around the store and search for various facts about certain products. Each of the store’s goods is either non-toxic, made from recycled material, made by renewable resources, or made regionally. Countertops twinkled from the polished recycled glass, as well as fireproof recycled paper counters. Some paints were not synthetic at all, but instead came straight from clay. All the wood is Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) approved, meaning the wood came from forests whose habitats are monitored and protected and whose trees were not illegally cut down.

As the sophomores handed in their worksheets, they were excited to move onto the next green site: Berkeley Marina’s Shorebird Park Nature Center. This building is both solar and wind powered. It uses the sun’s power to heat up their water, and the heating system of the building is in the floors, not the walls like most other buildings, so as the heat rises, the entire room quickly warms up. The counters are made of various crushed glass bottles and others from pressurized sunflower seed husks. The floors are made from sawdust mixed with natural oils like pine seed.

However, the most prominent green feature is that this is a straw bale building.  Yes, the unused portion after harvesting rice is made into bales, and these are placed between the walls of plaster. The straw is then used as opposed to dumped,  is fairly inexpensive and serves as a fantastic insulator. It took the workers a little under a year to complete this amazing building.

Up next was the David Brower Center, located at 2150 Allston Way between Oxford and Shattuck. This building was many of the students’ favorite. When they walked in, they were in awe as they gazed around at the clean, modern space. A large bench carved from an old tree rested in the middle of the open area. To the left was the Hazel Wolf Gallery and far off to the right was what drew many students further into the building. There was a touch-screen panel that displayed all of the building’s power consumption and production in real time. With the touch of a finger, one could see how much water, electricity, and gas was used in a single day, as well as how much power from the solar panels lining the outside of the building generated.

The tour of this unique building was lead by Salem Kimble from EBGT. “Usually people in their day-to-day lives go by buildings just accepting the fact that it’s a building,” Kimble said as she explained the significance of these tours. “But these tours alter your perspective and make you really see what’s happening behind the walls; they make you appreciate and understand the concept of being green.” The David Brower Center is only one of two buildings in all of Berkeley that incorporate the post-structural tension system. Countless beams of steel are woven horizontally and vertically throughout the building making it almost impossible for it to fall down in case a giant earthquake were to hit.

Ms. Trimlett and her class were guided next-door to the Oxford Plaza, an affordable living space for low-income families, built by the same architect as the Brower Center. They explored the wonderful roof, which contained various plants and garden beds watered via drip irrigation. The building also uses solar panels and the architect built the walls of the building so that no two windows were directly facing into each other’s apartments.

Close to the end of the tour, the class walked down Shattuck to Amanda’s Restaurant, where they were met by Peter Boyd, the Assistant General Manager. Amanda’s was greener than most expected. For instance, no one knew that the wood from the long common table was recycled from a decommission boat, or that the large rectangle of windows was actually a garage door. The paint has low VOC too, making it not smell as much. “When we painted Amanda’s [and] within two days, you couldn’t smell anything except the (free ranch fed) burgers and  (no trans fat) cookies,” explained Boyd.  He continued to explain what “being green” meant to him, “It is not a competition to see who can be the most green, it is a communal effort to ensure that we, as a business, can provide a green option to ensure that we are maintaining our goal of creating a healthy community.”

The tour ended at Berkeley Community College where the students learned a couple elements that contributed to making BCC a greener place. The tour made a huge impact on the students and adults who attended. Ms. Trimlett stated that she decided on East Bay Green Tours’ field trips because “it gives students the opportunity to look at all the green places around us and realize all the amazing job opportunities.” Founding Director of EBGT Marissa LaMagna stated with great passion, “Giving these tours to people in Berkeley is a huge deal. It allows them to look into their own city and realize how being a greener place can help their community. It allows them to open their mind and realize what’s happening in their own backyard.” This fieldtrip was definitely worthwhile and confirmed that in the future we plan to help Berkeley become a greener place.

Ben Johnson is a student at Berkeley High and writes for the school newspaper.  He graciously allowed us to use his article and hopes to join us and report on future tours.  Thank you Ben, it was a pleasure having you!

East Bay Green Tours is partnering with BetterWorld Telecom and the Sustainable Business Alliance to sponsor a space in the Sustainable Enterprise Cluster at the brand new David Brower Center in downtown Berkeley, CA. The grand opening event this past Sunday had hundreds of locals and nonprofit professionals exploring this inspiring new facility, named in honor of the legendary environmentalist David Brower.

A LEED certified and architecturally stunning building, the Brower Center was ten years in the making and is designed to create a vibrant community of like-minded individuals and organizations committed to a just and ecologically sustainable society. The building itself has several state-of-the-art conference rooms, a terrace, and an intimate 180 seat theater. On the first floor there is also a beautiful gallery devoted to art and photography that inspires activism and ecological awareness. A wide assortment of non-profits and mission driven businesses now call the Brower Center their home including: Earth Island Institute, Center for EcoLiteracy, Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF), Equity Community Builders, International Rivers and many others.

We're excited to join this landmark community of world changing non-profits and for the opportunity we have to support the vision of the Brower Center, to foster collaborations between like-minded organizations and individuals, engage new people in advocacy and facilitate cross-sector communication and partnerships.

You can find us in just a few weeks on the second floor of the Brower Center in the Sustainable Enterprise Cluster along with others like Green Jobs Network, Survival International, Green Wave Strategies, and our partners BetterWorld Telecom and the Sustainable Business Alliance.

Check out the Brower Center at www.browercenter.org

East Bay Green Tours will provide a valuable, multi-purpose service to East Bay "green" businesses, as well as the overall community.

• First and foremost, the tours will serve as a direct community outreach and advocacy for the people working in the sustainable industry. It will provide tour attendees - and the media - the chance to "See the Green Economy in Action!"

The East Bay - in particular Berkeley - has been a hub for the environmental and progressive movements for decades. The seeds of the environmental movement planted in the 1960s have sprouted and are growing into a beautiful forest - the arc of "conscious capitalism" can be traced immediately to the businesses and organizations featured on the Green Tours.

• In addition, the City of Berkeley has a virtually endless array of offerings to the tourist community, yet surprisingly few structured tours of the City. EBGT will play a vital role in having a destination package for people visiting the region. It will also broadcast the image of Berkeley in the new millennium - a community where the arts & sciences, business and education, social activism and spiritual consciousness are interwoven in the daily lives of the citizens. The world needs to know the new message of Berkeley - EBGT will help promote that message.
  
  
• The tours will be moldable to accommodate virtually any type or tourists or visitor group, including school children, senior citizens, political action groups, foreign dignitaries, and civic/municipalities.

• Lastly, the EBGT will serve as a connection point for people looking to "learn from the experts." Many people are looking for a way to learn about sustainable practices in the field. They can use their time on the tour to create a direct connection with "experts" implementing green practices in their everyday work. In this way, businesses and individuals pioneering the sustainability market can be further branded as "experts," enhancing their career profile and that of the region.

RT's mission is to become the foremost provider of "sustainability tours" to the people of the Bay Area and beyond.